A Third Chance
by Christina-Potter-09
Summary: Post-DH,noep.The war is over for a long time now, Harry & Hermione sacrificed everything as to be together but a threat separated them,now, they have a third chance to be together.If a relationship is to evolve it must go through a series of endings.R


_Hello guys, here is a new story of mine, it's an one-shot dedicated to who else? Harry and Hermione of course, but this is something different, here, the couple has broken up but something brings them back together, their love of course was the reason._

It's unbetaed so be patient hehe i started it at 00.00 and finished at 02.00am lol

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A Third Chance_

_Outside By the Staind  
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_And you bring me to my knees, again_

_All this time that I could beg you please, in vain_

_All the times that I felt insecure, for you_

_And I leave my burdens at the door_

_I'm on the outside_

_I'm looking in_

_I can see through you_

_See your true colors_

_'Cause inside you're ugly_

_Ugly like me_

_I can see through you_

_See to the real you_

_All this time that I felt like this won't end_

_It's for you_

_And I taste wha I could never have_

_Was from you_

_All those times that I tried_

_My intentions_

_Full of pride_

_And I waste more time than anyone_

_"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were." Kahlil Gibran_

Hermione had been paged to go and help with the team of Aurors that was arriving by the minute. She just wished she wouldn't have to face Him as she ran down the corridor.

Hermione's heart was racing at the thought of the news, another Death Eater had been captured, she just wished it would be That Death Eater, Antonin Dolohov, the reason for her sleep to be uneasy and full of nightmares.

As she moved down the last corridor, she looked around her and found the rest of the Healers who were waiting close to the apparition point, code orange for high danger patient was already set. Hermione made her way through the crowd and moved close to the head healer who was to give orders.

'I want clear things, here,' Healer Grey was saying, a fair but stern man. 'I want you, Carev, Chisolm, Brown and Swan to help the healers, you Hermione, with me will attend on the Death Eater,' Grey said and Hermione nodded her head, she was almost a friend with Healer Grey and it was common secret that Hermione was to be the youngest Head Healer of her time. The group waited in tensed silence for the group to arrive and Hermione could only wish not to have Dolohov too close to her and Him in there at all.

After a few moments, many apparition sounds echoed through the corridor and then many voices were muffled with screams and commands.

A team of five Aurors was struggling to keep down a man who was fighting to get free. The aurors and the captive were all injured more or less with the Death Eater being the most damaged of all. Hermione's heart ached in fear the moment she saw the man that had tried to murder her when she was fifteen looking up at her, she pulled her gaze away from his hateful eyes and looked at the man she dreaded seeing the most.

Harry Potter, her once best friend was there looking back at her with the same emotions of pain, love, guilt, regret and sorrow her own eyes were showing. The once best friends and ex-lovers locked gazes for a few heartbeats, lost in their own little world of pain for a few moments of salvation and torture.

A Healer passed by Hermione and she snapped out of her stupor as along with Healer Grey moved close to the Death Eater who was still trying to fight against the Aurors that were holding him down, including Harry.

'Oohh the Mudblood, so good to see you, little whore,' Dolohov said before he could spit a mouthful of blood.

Harry snapped out of his own stupor as well the moment he heard the insults addressed to the woman he loved. He punched Dolohov hard on the face before someone could take him away from his hands. Harry had the chance not to follow the team here but he had promised her he wouldn't lose the Death Eater from his eyes the moment he would capture him and after all Harry was also injured and needed treatment, it was a good excuse for him to see her again after so long if she was having a swift, he was lucky indeed as she was right in front of him now. Healer Grey looked with disdain at the Death Eater.

'Chisolm, take Granger's position, Granger help the Aurors.' The man said and Harry looked at Hermione with concern. Harry had made sure to learn everything about Hermione even if they were… away from each other, he knew Healer Grey saw Hermione like a daughter and Harry was at least happy to see that Hermione had some support in her job.

Hermione huffed and moved close to the Aurors, of course, as everyone had rushed close to the Aurors first she was now left to help Harry in Chisolm's place. She sighed and moved close to the man her heart was bleeding for and looked at him with great effort to remain calm.

'Please follow me,' Hermione said and Harry nodded his head and moved behind her, his leg hurting him for the effort of carrying his weight and the injures.

The pair entered an office at the end of the corridor and Hermione closed the door behind her, they both fell in silence when the door was closed and the two of them left inside the small, suffocating room, looking at each other, their eyes screaming things their lips didn't dare to say. After a moment Hermione gestured to Harry to sit on an examination bed that was close to a wall and the young man did as he was gestured to without a word. He took off his blooded shirt and Hermione couldn't help the small gasp of surprise and lust that escaped her lips the moment she saw the body of her ex, the body she so much craved to touch again.

'I heard, you're close to be a Head Healer,' Harry said, when he decided to pretend that he didn't listen to her gasp, not wanting to get his hopes too high, Hermione was used to be gasping every time she saw him injured of pained ever since they were children, maybe that was just one more time like those.

Hermione looked at Harry like he had grown a second head, she hated the formal tone of his voice, the injures on his body, the stupidity of the situation was having her on the edge of crying or even laughing. If someone, a few years back had told her that she and her best friend would be acting like stranger she would have called them barking mad and send them to the hospital's wing for permanent damage but life was funny, ridiculously funny…

They weren't always like that, no, there were times, when they were happy, even when it was just her and him, but those times were long gone, if not forgotten.

When the War had been over, Hermione had decided to give a shot to her relationship with Ron, when she thought that it was him that she wanted, and Harry in his turn had decided to keep up with Ginny from where they were left of in his sixth year.

They soon realized that the Weasleys weren't the answer, people don't change easily and Hermione didn't have the hope or the patience to believe that Ron would eventually mature and understand her and Harry realized that the lustful fling he had with Ginny wasn't enough to heal him and have him saved by his demons after the War. So the couples were parted after awhile and even if the Weasleys didn't like it, Harry and Hermione knew it would not take them anywhere.

Something else the two had tried to hide at first, along with their own reasons for breaking up with the two youngest Weasleys were the strange feelings that had slowly blossomed for each other. Discomfort at the sight of kissing other people, jealousy when they would walk in each other snogging someone else, anger when they would try to explain what was wrong, all those emotions brought guilt and pain but soon both Harry and Hermione knew what those feelings were, they hadn't felt them as strong with the Weasleys but now, they knew what was wrong… They had fallen in love with each other. Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love.

And that cost them a lot, when the once brotherly feelings finally proved to be actually deep and meaningful love the couple needed to sacrifice everything. They needed to risk showing how they felt to each other, and when they did, and they had their glimpse of happiness together, they had to lose everyone else as to be together.

The Weasleys turned against them when they learnt that a few months after the break-ups with Ron and Ginny they two of them had gotten together, other people also turned against them, forgetting who saved them in the second war, the press found their new plaything on their shoulders and their relationship and soon the couple was forced to actually hide as to have some moments of peace from the hatemails of crazy fans, the pain of the loss of their friends and the stupid, endless lies the press made sure to spread everywhere for them.

The couple tried to stay strong through all this hell but when a letter of some remaining Death Eaters threatened Hermione's life, Harry did the one thing he knew to do better, push people away as to save them, and that was the first time that he pushed Hermione away as to help her. He had never done it before, because he hadn't realized how much she meant to him, she was a sister, yes, a friend, yes, someone to count to, indeed but the realization of her safety meaning his own life made him push her away after almost ten years of fighting by each other's sides. Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together: at the door where the latter enters the former makes its exit.

They had broken up when they had first entered their professional careers and now, almost a year later, they had been more miserable than ever.

Hermione sometimes wished she could be back in that cold tent with Voldemort in their wake if it was to be with him again, she may had realized how she felt about him after the war but at least then, she had her best friend, the boy who cared to look for her when she left a full of people party seemingly unnoticed, he was the one who used her wand as perfect as she did, he was the one who made her smile simply by saying that he didn't think she was ugly, he was the one who made sweet love to her when they had been together for those beautiful yet difficult days when they were together, before that blasted letter could arrive and destroy her fragile life once again. Dolohov was the last to be captured from the team of terrorists who were believed to have sent the letter and Hermione felt almost like being sarcastic at Harry now, that she was supposedly "safe", she hadn't been safe from the moment they separated.

She hadn't spent an entire night without jerking up in her sleep or waking up sweaty and shaken after yet another nightmare of Dolohov killing her or Harry getting hurt in his attempt to capture the madman. Harry had promised her, the day he had broken up with her that he would capture the bastard and would save her no matter what; he had never said a word about reuniting with her after that day that eventually came.

Harry looked at Hermione, he could see she was tired, he could notice, he knew her too well and her tired state mirrored his own. The last months of his life were the hardest, when he had lost Ron, because of his choice to be with Hermione, he had found some happiness and comfort in the fact that he was with the woman he loved and none would change that, the fact that he had pushed that same woman away from himself was killing him.

Hermione had been his own rock, the reason for him to keep up, the voice of his mind, the voice of what is right, and he knew, pushing her away wasn't right but it was necessary to be done as to save her, he had promised her he would capture the one who threatened her life, the ones who threatened the reason for his being. But now, that Dolohov was captured, how could he ask her to be back together when he was the problem, when he was the magnet of trouble in their lives, how could he save her from himself when the only thing he wanted to was to be with her every second of the day?

The endless moment ended with Hermione's sad chuckle.

'Yeah, I will probably become the Head Healer,' Hermione confirmed as she took her wand from her pocket and pointed it on the first injure she found across his arm, Harry had frowned and Hermione noticed.

'But you see, I have none to celebrate it with, as my parents don't understand what such promotion really means and I have no friends as I sacrificed them all for the man I loved who by the way pushed me away!' Hermione said through her teeth, every word cutting through Harry's skin as she kept up healing him with her wand and damaging him with her words, that was another reason for him to be guilty, having left her alone when he had broken up with her. Hermione stopped healing him as if she had read his thoughts.

'But I am not regretting my choices of not talking with Ron whom betrayed us both twice, I am not regretting talking with Ginny and the rest even if they were like a family to me, I'm not regretting having lost the rest because they're stupid enough not to understand that I loved you. However, I'm regretting that I didn't hexed your bollocks off when you dared to break up with me, all those months back, pulling me in the state of misery I am pulled in for the last year.' Hermione said in an ice-cold voice and Harry could feel the tense could see the unshed tears now ready to run down her cheeks. He could see her pain, it matched his own.

'You know my reasons,' Harry could only say even if he knew it wasn't the right thing to be said. Hermione half-chuckled, half-sobbed when she heard his voice and she kept up healing his wounds.

'Of course I do, you wanted to save me, to protect me, and it worked, physically, I'm better than ever,' Hermione said and Harry took a deep breath, not being able to say something, he could see with his own eyes she was thinner than normal, her eyes were fogged, her face was a constant mask of pain. 'But who cares about the sleepless nights I have spent because you were away? Who cares about the anger I have storage for you pushing me away after we fought together in an entire war? Who cares about the pain you caused to me, of all people, the only one who stood by your side when everyone else betrayed you? None, and certainly not me.' Hermione said through her teeth and Harry closed his eyes the moment tears ran both down their faces.

Her every word was another knife cutting through his heart, not only because that was the truth, not only because he could see it in her eyes, not only because he had suffered the same banes from the moment they had broken up but above all, because he was the one he had caused all this, him and his darn destiny to spoil everything he touched.

The couple remained in silence and Hermione could feel her head spinning, she had purred out of her system all the pain and all the complaints she had for him for the past months and he hadn't even uttered a word from the moment he said that she knew his reasons, of course she did, she always did but she also always had hoped that he would never push her away like it happened, she had always hoped that she would be by his side no matter what and the fact that she had been mistaken was killing her.

When she was done with spells she brought the wand back in its holder around her waist and moved away from him, his sent, the feel of his skin under her fingertips, his gaze that had been glued and unanswered by her, the sound of his breathing along with her emotions were fogging her mind and she needed to go away from him. He had been her drug for far too long and the logical part of her mind had been screaming at her to get over this entire loop and keep up with her life.

Hermione was ready to step away from him further when he gripped her hand and brought her close to him, between his legs as he remained shirtless and sat on the bed of examination. Hermione tensed and gasped as she suddenly found herself in his arms, a place she hadn't been in for almost a year. One's exhale was turning into the other's inhale; their bodies were flat against each other from the waist and upward. Hermione's heart was matching Harry's racing one; the two lovers remained in the hug for a few moments before Harry could speak.

'I'm so sorry,' Harry whispered the truth he had been dying to tell her from the moment he had broken up with her. Hermione looked deep in the emerald eyes she once loved to lose herself in.

'I don't care,' Hermione lied and Harry tightened his arms around her, both in hurt and knowledge.

'I love you,' he said sincerely in a whisper as their noses' tips were touching.

'I hate you,' Hermione lied again and Harry stared in her eyes, seeking the truth that would take down that lie, he found it immediately when yet another tear left Hermione's eyes.

'I love you,' Harry said again, this time in a more steady voice, 'I love you and I know I have hurt you, but you know me and you know I love you,' he said and Hermione tried to move away but he didn't let her.

'This isn't an excuse for you to make me crawl! This isn't an excuse for you to destroy me! This isn't an excuse—' Hermione started but was unable to finish as she looked in his eyes, she knew she had to hate him, to loath him, to ignore and avoid him, to forget him, but how could she?

How could she stop crying for him when she loved him so much? How could she stop needing and loving him when this is what she had been doing since she was eleven? How could she fall out of love with him when she had fallen so deep? There was none and nothing to pull her out of this state of being utterly and completely in love with the stupid man in front of her.

'I should be hating you' Hermione whimpered and Harry nodded his head and rested his forehead against hers, loving this moment after so long.

'I know,'

'I shouldn't be in love with you,'

'I know,'

'I love you,'

The kiss that followed those three words was raw, hard, needy, almost painful as their lips finally crushed against each other's and their tongues started battling for domination after so long, their arms wrapped around each other and Harry's hands pulled Hermione even closer against his body, if that was possible.

Hermione moaned in Harry's mouth as his left hand pressed the back of her head closer the moment his right hand cupped her bottom and pushed up against his hard crotch. They both moaned again at the friction and the need, both of them lost in the sensations they craved to feel for almost a year, either of them had tried something new, there was no reason for it; they were dedicated, addicted to each other.

'Gods, I missed you,' Harry whispered in her ear as they broke the kiss and started kissing each other on the face, desperate to feel every inch of each other's skin as their hands roamed up and down their bodies.

'I need you,' Hermione moaned as Harry started tagging on her green robes, they struggled together, blind from passion to take the garment of fabric off her and soon her healer's robes found the floor. Harry jumped off the examination table and wrapped Hermione in his arms, he turned around with her in his hug and helped her on the table. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as they kept kissing and enjoying each other as the old knowledge of their love was awaken along with their passion and need.

Harry pulled away and started unbuttoning Hermione's shirt, she impatiently huffed and Harry finally abandoned the task of unbuttoning, he ripped it in two with his hands, the buttons scattering on the floor as the two lovers brought their bodies flat against each other again. Harry's hand moved on Hermione breast and kneaded it, coaxing moans and whimpers. He traveled down the valley between her breast with kisses and captured her free breast in his mouth above the black bra she was wearing, watering the fabric as he did so. Hermione moaned and threw her head back in ecstasy as her hands traveled down his scarred and toned back.

'Please Harry,' Hermione moaned and he nodded his head after a last, hard nip on her nipple that caused her to yelp and moan. Hermione's hands moved on his trousers and soon she was taking them along with is boxers down his legs. Harry groaned as his member was finally free from his clothes. Harry gripped Hermione's thighs and moved his hands upwards, taking her skirt with his hand, the cloth pooled at Hermione's waist, the two lovers kept kissing as Harry moved Hermione's knickers aside and entered her body to the hilt.

The couple moaned loudly in unison as their bodies joint, Hermione's arms wrapped around his neck again, just like her legs did with his waist, Harry's hands moved on her thigh and in her hair, enjoying the feeling of the sea of curls. The couple remained still for a moment as they were joined both body and soul.

'I love you,' they whispered before Harry could pull away and push back inside Hermione's body as she moaned and closed her eyes for a moment.

Their bodies kept up, dancing in a rhythm they both knew so well, there was no other word spoken, no other declaration of love in words, their bodies were enough, and their bodies never lied. Hermione gasped Harry's name as her muscles started trebling around him as she fell from the edge, taking him with her, they both moaned each other's names in broken voices.

After their glorious moments Harry pushed Hermione further and they found themselves half laid on the bed with Hermione on her back and Harry above her, resting his head on her breasts, her hand playing with his hair while his lips were kissing her skin. They fell in silence for a few moments, both thinking, both hoping.

'We didn't take any kind of protection,' Hermione finally said when her breath was back to normal and her mind was proceeding what had just happened. Harry closed his eyes at the sound of her voice and kissed her breast again as his hands moved on her belly, secretly hoping for this night's "mistake" having fruits.

'If you want to, we can stop using it,' Harry only said, not daring to look at her, it was now or never, she would either give them another chance of push him away, he knew she had the right to, after all.

'I don't care, as long as I'm with you,' Hermione said and Harry felt his heart aching, jumping in his chest as relief healed all the pain he had caused to both for the past months, of course, she would be their salvation once again when he was the stupid to cause the problems.

'Thank you, I won't mess up again,' Harry said as he finally found the courage to look at his best friend for more than fifteen years and girlfriend for the most beautiful seven months, two weeks and four days of his life.

'I love you,' Hermione only said as she looked down at him on her chest, he smiled and moved closer as to steal one more kiss but Hermione's finger stopped his lips at the last moment, 'Don't ever forget that, ever again, because I won't survive so many months without not only my boyfriend but also my best friend,' Hermione said and Harry smiled truly and nodded his head, silently apologizing for the pain he inflicted on both of them.

They had their first chance back at Hogwarts and their second chance after the war, but in some cases of extraordinary love, some people deserve a third chance…

_"It isn't possible to love and part...You can transmutate love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you... Love is eternal." E M Forester

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sooo? what u think of it guys? you liked it? we won't have a second chap i think, it was just something that was in my mind

thanks for reading, please review :)

CP09


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